


Looks Can Be Misleading

by wasterella



Series: Misconceptions [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 23:18:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6349687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wasterella/pseuds/wasterella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Generally, knocking someone on their ass leads to swearing and violence. Not everyone is as they appear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looks Can Be Misleading

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: SNK © Hajime Isayama

Eren Jaeger had exactly twelve dollars and fifteen cents in his bank account. Including the change he had managed to find lying around the house, and any additional coins he’d happened upon during his walk to the store, that brought him up to thirteen dollars and five cents.

He was getting paid in exactly seven days and four hours, and while he wanted to wait before going to the store, he really couldn’t anymore. Most of his cheque would be going to rent anyway, so he wouldn’t be much better off the following week than he was now.

His grocery list included only the barest of essentials at this time. Toilet paper, an absolute must. Toothpaste, because he was really squeezing the life out of his current tube. Deodorant, which was receiving the same treatment as his toothpaste and really doing no good anymore. Laundry detergent, because he had run out of clean clothes to wear in his attempt to save money. A bag of rice, because he could make that last for an exceptionally long time, even if he had to eat it plain. And, if he had enough money left over, two cans of soup, which he knew could last him four dinners if he ate half-a-can a night.

He also needed soap, but he could last one more week with what he had if he used it sparingly. Or, _more_  sparingly.

He kept doing the calculations in his head, trying to figure out how much it would come up to with tax. He wished he had coupons, but nothing he was looking to buy had been in the last flyer he’d grabbed. They always had discounts on stupid things, like cakes or frozen pizzas. Luxuries a poor, starving student like him couldn’t afford.

Still mumbling to himself while frowning at the ground, counting out his purchases for the tenth time, he didn’t notice the man in front of him heading for the same entrance and walked right into him.

Stumbling back a step, Eren looked up to find he’d practically hip-checked the guy away, feeling mortified. And to top it off, the guy looked pissed as fuck, which made sense considering Eren had sent him flat on his ass.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” He hastily bent down to help the man stand, but the guy just held up one irritated hand and got to his feet on his own. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

The man was shorter than him by a few inches, which probably explained why he’d fallen over so easily. For someone walking into a Wal-Mart, he looked way too put together, and almost smelled of money.

He was wearing a black suit with a white button-up and dark tie. Overtop this, he had a calf-length brown coat and what looked like a cream-coloured cashmere scarf. His hands were covered with brown leather gloves, and his black shoes were polished and looked extremely expensive.

To top off the perfectly put together outfit, he had an undercut, black hair falling close to his face on the surface and then buzzed to the scalp at the rear. His dark eyes were intense when he looked over at Eren, who suddenly felt extremely embarrassed of his own appearance.

Faded black hoodie with a broken zipper. Faded black T-shirt that had been washed so many times the logo on the front had worn off. Ripped jeans. Holey shoes.

He was surprised the guy didn’t recoil in horror at realizing he’d been touched by him, but all he did was give him a once-over and then head towards the entrance.

“Watch where you’re going.”

“I’m sorry,” Eren called after him. He wanted to feel a little annoyed about it, but the man hadn’t been a dick, which was surprising in itself. He kind of _looked_  like a dick, the way all the rich assholes did, so he was thankful the guy hadn’t called the cops on him for daring to touch him.

Sighing and rubbing the back of his head, Eren followed behind him into the store, grabbing an available basket and then wandering towards the toiletries first. The section was at the far end of the store near the back, and he dragged his feet the whole way there, doing his best to avoid looking around.

He hadn’t been able to afford anything considered a “luxury” for over eight months. Most days, he barely had enough for the essentials. His father was a monumental douchebag who would never lend him money, and Eren was too proud to admit to his friends and sister that he was in such a tight spot. It helped that they were scattered across the country and couldn’t see how bad things had gotten for him, but he was sure they were starting to suspect.

Cancelling his phone had been one thing, but cancelling his internet was definitely raising suspicions. The only place he could email them from was the university library, and they made it very clear that his limited communication was concerning them.

But what was he supposed to do?! It wasn’t like his friends and sister were made of money, they would only be able to help him so much and he wasn’t going to mooch off them. No, he had this covered. He could make it on his own, no need to involve anyone else in his stupid problems.

Reaching the toilet paper, his eyes slowly scanned each and every one on the shelf until he found the cheapest one. It held six rolls, which would last him a while, he hoped. He’d been really good about not wasting it, to the point where if he had to blow his nose, he just blew into his hand and then washed it thoroughly afterwards. It was gross the first time he’d done it, but desperate times and all.

Tossing the toilet paper into his basket, he turned to head for the deodorant and toothpaste and walked right into someone. He almost fell onto his ass this time but managed to catch himself at the last second, looking over at who he’d walked into and feeling like he wanted to just die.

“I am—so sorry,” he said, trying not to wince.

It was the same guy as outside. He’d been standing a little behind Eren, perusing something on the other side of the aisle. He looked really annoyed at having been walked into _twice_ , especially since it was Eren both times.

He didn’t say anything this time, just turned away from him and kept looking at whatever he was perusing. Probably some high-end tissues encrusted with gold flakes and blessed by a priest. Not that Eren thought a place like _Wal-Mart_  had anything “high end,” but still. _This_  guy could afford tissues. No blowing into his hand for him!

Shaking his head and feeling bitter, Eren turned and continued on his way to the deodorant and toothpaste. He already knew the cheapest brand of both, so it was easy to find them, grabbing one of each off the shelves and tossing them to join the toilet paper.

He had to walk all the way to the back of the store for the laundry detergent, and winced when he saw all the prices, feeling like his total was getting pretty high. Why was laundry detergent so fucking expensive? What, did the world not _want_  him to be clean? Large corporations wanted him to smell like a sewer, was that it?

Walking up and down the aisle multiple times, he sighed when he finally came to terms with the fact that the prices were _not_  going to magically change and just grabbed the cheapest one he could find. Putting it into his basket, he started towards the food, seeing Mr. Rich-Pants a little ways ahead of him, moving in the same direction.

They didn’t go down the same aisle. The rich asshole went towards the fruits and vegetables. Eren didn’t even remember what an apple tasted like, it had been so long since he’d had one. It was ridiculous how expensive fruit could be. Vegetables were almost worse. He was pretty sure his body was rebelling against him over how little greenery it had been getting the past few months.

Ignoring how jealous he was, he found the aisle he needed and wandered over to the bags of rice, scanning the different ones. Most of them were the same price, but they were all different types, like Basmati or Jasmine. Trying to decide what he would get sick of less quickly, he went for the Basmati and added it to his basket.

Knowing he was just being optimistic by now, he headed for the canned soup. Surprisingly, he saw Mr. Bigshot in this aisle, as well—seriously, the store was huge, how were they running into each other every two seconds?!

Standing in front of the canned soup, all of them the same price, he chose Tomato soup and Mushroom soup, adding them to his pathetic excuse of a basket. Finished with his groceries, he moved towards one of the tills. Normally he’d go for the self-checkout but he didn’t know how to cancel items without calling an attendant over, so it was easier to just go through a person, much as he didn’t want to.

Finding one of the shorter lines, he looked through his basket to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything and calculated the amount in his head. He was over, and he knew he was, but maybe luck would shine on him today and he would get a magical discount of some sort. He doubted it, but as long as he had enough for the rice and other essentials, he could live without the soup.

He’d been waiting for a good thirty seconds when someone dropped a basket behind him, making him jump. Turning, he found Mr. Grumpypants standing there, phone in his hand and scowl on his face. Eren’s eyes unwillingly shifted down to what he was buying and his dislike of this random stranger grew exponentially.

Not only did he have a whole bunch of fruits and vegetables, he also had a bag of chips, a carton of eggs, some bacon, a loaf of bread and some Ding Dongs.

Eren would kill a man to have some bacon and eggs.

The line moved forward and he shuffled along, feeling depressed and annoyed that life was so damn expensive and unfair. Sure, he was getting an education, but what use was it going to be when he graduated? Everywhere wanted experience, and Eren didn’t get how he was supposed to obtain any when everywhere wanted it. That made no fucking sense, in his opinion.

When he finally reached the conveyer belt, he set up the separator between his purchases and the woman in front of him, then put his items down on it. She was rung through quickly, only having bought two frozen pizzas and a cake—of course, using fucking coupons because clearly her lard-ass couldn’t afford the fucking food. Eren would’ve laughed at the fact that his earlier thoughts on coupons had been realized if he weren’t so jealous and bitter about it.

After she’d wandered away, Eren smiled at the girl behind the counter. She was a tiny little thing, all blonde hair and blue eyes. Cute, he supposed, would be the right way to describe her. Not that he was interested or looking, but he could appreciate that she was cute.

“Hi,” he said with a grin. “How’re you doing today?”

She seemed startled at him being nice and offered her own smile in return. “I’m well, thank you. How are you?”

Eren heard a slow, annoyed exhale behind him, but chose to ignore it. There were eight other lines open, he could literally go anywhere else.

“I’m good, thanks. Busy day?”

The girl shrugged. “No more than usual. I’m off soon, so that’s nice.”

“Always a good time of day, for sure,” Eren agreed with a laugh, eyes on the total. It was going too high. Much too high.

After ringing through the last of his items, she hit a button on her till and the total came up.

Nineteen dollars and ninety-eight cents.

_Shit._

“I’m really sorry, um, that’s a little above what I have right now.” He winced slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Can you maybe deduct the soups?”

“Oh, sure,” the girl said, pulling them out of the bag she’d deposited them in and voiding them. Eren waited, eyes on the total.

Seventeen dollars and seventy cents. God dammit.

He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising, the uncomfortable prickle of eyes watching him and he knew he was pissing off the guy behind him. It wasn’t his fucking fault the jackass had chosen his God damn line!

Quickly going over everything he had bought, he wondered about what else he could take out.

Toilet paper he had to keep, no question. The rice, too, or he literally wouldn’t have anything to eat this week. Really, the only two things he could think of to get rid of were the deodorant or the laundry detergent. The toothpaste he _had_  to buy, because he was royally fucked if he got a cavity.

He was leaning towards getting rid of the laundry detergent, but he didn’t have any clean clothes left. If he just washed them without soap, would that sort of help? He wasn’t sure. Maybe it would be better to get rid of the deodorant. Sure, he wouldn’t smell great halfway through the day, but at least with detergent he could wash his clothes and not worry about it so much the next day.

Deciding that was the better option, he licked his lips and tried to ignore the eyes burning into the back of his skull.

“I’m really, _really_  sorry but um, can you also void the deodorant?”

The girl seemed a little surprised, as if slowly cluing in to just _how_  little money he had. Without a word, she reached into the bag and voided the deodorant. He waited, eyes on the total.

Fifteen dollars and seventy-two cents.

God fucking dammit!

How had his math been so wrong?! The laundry detergent was fucking everything up, but he really needed it. And the toothpaste! And the fucking rice! Maybe he could... steal some toilet paper from school or something? Just walk into a stall and unroll an entire one into his bag? It made him uncomfortable to steal like that, but he didn’t know what else to do right now.

“You can add the soup and deodorant back on,” a voice behind him said, a twenty landing on the conveyer belt right in front of Eren. “It was nineteen ninety-eight, right?”

If the cashier looked stunned, Eren had no fucking idea what _he_  looked like. He whipped around so fast he hurt his neck, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

The rich dude he’d knocked on his ass was actually paying for his stuff. While Eren wanted to be angry at the charity, his pride rearing its ugly head, another part of him was sobbing with relief, wondering what the fuck he’d done to deserve this amazing kindness from a stranger. Especially one he’d bashed into _twice_.

He heard the beeps behind him, the cashier adding his items back onto the bill and then the till opening and shutting.

Eren still hadn’t moved. He didn’t know what to do, or say. He was literally in shock. Were people like this? Did they do things like this? Were there actually selfless people in the world? He wanted to think the guy was just impatient and rolling in money, so he’d done it to get Eren out of the way, but the look on his face didn’t hold a hint of annoyance. And even now, as Eren stood there with his purchases paid for and his bag waiting, the man didn’t snap at him to hurry up and move.

No, he had legitimately done this to be kind. And Eren was fucking floored, especially since he’d been calling him all sorts of rude names in his head.

He opened his mouth to say “thank you,” but instead of that, what came out was, “Why?”

“Because sometimes it takes one person’s help to turn things around.” The man shrugged, as if having pulled the words out of his ass. “Life likes to throw you in the dirt and kick you in the ass, but one day you’ll stand back up and rape the fucker with a iron spike.”

Eren’s head snapped back at those words. While somewhat inspirational, they were definitely not what he’d expected would come out of someone in his clothing’s mouth.

“I’ve been in your shoes. It gets better.” He slapped Eren lightly in the back. “Just say thanks like a normal person and forget about it.”

“Thank you,” Eren blurted out, embarrassed it had taken him so long to say so. “Seriously. You saved my ass.”

“And other people’s noses, apparently.” The corners of the man’s lips curved upwards, as if amused by his own comment.

“Right,” Eren said, laughing a little and rubbing the back of his head. “But um, seriously, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now get out of here so I can get home before my bacon goes bad.”

Realizing he was holding up the line, Eren blurted out more apologies and turned to grab his bag, thanking the cashier before doing the same to the man behind him. Hurrying towards the exit, Eren couldn’t help but smile just a fraction at what had just transpired.

It made a warmth spread through his chest to know that the world _wasn’t_  full of rich assholes.

Maybe they were rich, but not all of them were assholes.

**END.**

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this came from, I thought of it at work and it both depressed me and made me really happy at the same time. I wanted to show Levi's kind side. Even though he has a resting bitch-face, he's not a bad guy :)


End file.
